History of Wellesley Township

The Township of Wellesley is located in the northwest corner of what is now the Region of Waterloo. It was settled later than the other townships in Waterloo County because it was part of “The Queen’s Bush,” a vast tract of land set aside as Clergy Reserves. The area stretched north to Georgian Bay and west to Lake Huron, between the developed lands to the south-west and the lands of the German Company to the east.

Clergy Reserves were areas set aside for the maintenance of the Protestant church in Canada. Proceeds from the sale or rent of land provided income for the church. The usual practice was to set aside every seventh lot, but in Wellesley the entire township was set aside. There was some controversy about this system and by 1840 the creation of new Clergy Reserves was prevented.

The township was surveyed by William Walker in 1842-1843 in order to open the area for settlement, but by that time there were already several groups of "squatters," mostly in the areas that became the villages of St. Clements, Heidelberg and Wellesley, as well as along the eastern and southern boundaries.

These squatters were both white and Black, the latter in the area around the present-day villages of Hawkesville and Wallenstein. Squatters leased or obtained unsurveyed land from the Commissioner of Crown Lands to whom management of Clergy Reserves was given in 1830. After Walker’s survey was complete, squatters were allowed to keep their cleared lands provided they lived on the lots, had made substantial progress in clearing the land and made a proper formal purchase of the lands.

When the land was opened for settlement, settlers poured into the Township from the east and south as well as further afield. “Location tickets” were issued to settlers and when all the necessary requirements, including payment, had been fulfilled on the property, they were given their deeds.

Many Amish families crossed the border from Wilmot Township onto lands along the First Line and many Roman Catholics settled along the Third Line in the eastern section. For the most part, these two groups were of Alsatian descent and spoke the same German dialect.

Hessian Lutherans settled along the Fifth Line or Hessen Strassse of the eastern section, many arriving through Heidelberg . In St. John Lutheran Cemetery, a memorial stone lists the names of the early pioneers buried there.

HawkesvilleIn 1837, Johann Phillip Schweitzer squatted at the junction of the Conestogo River and Donald and Boomer Creeks. Soon there were other families as well, including some Black squatters who remained there after the Survey. The American Civil War reversed the trend and many Blacks returned to the United States to fight in the war and remained there. The names Mallott, Posey, Sloman and Lawson, names of the original Black families, now identify four roads in the township.

John Hawke brought his family from Simcoe County and bought Schweitzer’s property along with two other properties to build a gristmill and saw mill. Samuel Lount, John Hawkes’ uncle and brother to his mother, Mary (Lount) Hawke, had been hanged for treason for his part in the Rebellion of 1837. Along with Michael Peter Empey, Hawke took the Census of 1851 for Wellesley Township. Hawke served as the first Reeve of the Township and sat on the first Waterloo County Council. He was involved in a bitter dispute between Berlin (now Kitchener) and Galt (now Cambridge) as these centres vied for the location of the County Seat. When the battle settled between Berlin and Galt, Hawke cast the deciding vote in favour of Berlin .

George Ballard, a cohort of Hawke and Empey, surveyed and laid out lots for Hawke’s village. He served as Clerk and Treasurer on Wellesley Township Council, taught school and wrote wills, bonds, letters and contracts. He left many letters about everyday happenings in the Hawkesville area. At one time, Hawkesville was the location of the Township Hall and many businesses, including general stores, George Diefenbacher’s carriage shop, a brass band, a school, and a post office.

“Emancipation Day” celebrations were held at Hawkesville in support of the abolition of Slavery in the U.S. prior to the American Civil War. At one celebration, in 1863, about 2,500 people attended and almost 1000 people sat down to eat at a picnic on Temperance Island in the Conestogo River. The island got its name as a result of the many meetings and picnics held there by the Hawkesville Sons of Temperance formed in 1854.

There remain no known descendants of the early settlers. Gone are the Hawkes, Ballards, Empeys, Sims and Lachners.

Very few Pennsylvania Mennonite families, settled among the predominately Anglo-Saxon families in the eastern section of the township near Hawkesville. However as development took place on the Mennonite farm land in Waterloo and Woolwich Townships, near the turn of the century, descendants of the early Pennsylvania pioneers, moved onto farmland in Wellesley Township. Today, close to half the farmland in the Township is owned by Mennonites, some of whom generate their own electric power, and still use horse drawn vehicles and implements.

WellesleyWellesley village was settled by squatters, Schmidt and Burgher, who cleared land and settled in the area. Schmidt developed the dam site and various enterprises followed. The Doering brothers laid out the village they called Schmidtsville. After 1866, John George Reiner became known as “the Builder of Wellesley,” because he built 32 new buildings to add to the eight already there.

There were several mills, an implement manufacturing establishment, hotels, stores, and a brewery. By the 1890s the village boasted many enterprises as well as a school and churches.

Wellesley is noted to have had Waterloo Region’s earliest roundabout in the main intersection of the village.

BambergLike Wellesley, Bamberg was established when squatters such as the Moser and Kroetsch families settled the area. By 1904, Bamberg, originally called Weimar , had 2 general stores, various businesses, a brewery, and post office.

HeidelbergOn the border of Woolwich and Wellesley Townships, Ancel and Blum were the first families to squat on the Queen’s Bush land.

The area was settled mostly by Lutherans. The post office was established in 1854 when the village boasted hotels, several businesses, a Lutheran Church and a school. Many Lutherans also settled south of Heidelberg along the boundary establishing a Lutheran church and cemetery there also.

The Heidelberg Hotel once served as a stagecoach stop between Berlin and Glen Allen. It was owned once by a Mr. Miller who also owned the General Store across the road. Legend has it that there was a tunnel under the road connecting the two.

St. ClementsWest of Heidelberg, the village of St. Clements and the surrounding area was settled predominately by Roman Catholics. They were somewhat isolated and looked to St. Agatha for assistance having moved up from or through there. The majority came from Alsace - Lorraine, although many came from numerous other German duchies or states.

The early Roman Catholic settlers sought to move worship services out of their homes and into a church as soon as possible and by 1853 had a deed to land for that purpose. A post office was established that year and soon the village had numerous businesses including a large sawmill.

WallensteinTen Scottish families settled in the area around Wallenstein, six of whom located on the Wellesley Township side of the boundary with Peel Township in Wellington County

LinwoodThe northwest quadrant of the Township was settled predominantly by the Irish. Some families settled on the land immediately while others lived in other parts of the province and cleared their holdings for a few summers before bringing their families and animals to their new homes.

There were many Roman Catholics in the Northwest Quadrant but Lutherans, Wesleyan Methodists and Presbyterians arrived and eventually built churches in the Linwood area. The Catholics first attended church in St. Clements but in 1907, built soon built their own church and school in Linwood. The small villages of Dorking and Macton grew along the northern boundary and a Roman Catholic Church was built on the Peel Township side in Macton.

The Linwood village plan was laid out in 1857. According to Parsel’s Atlas of 1881, Linwood boasted a population of 600, several mills, a pump factory, hotels, a post office, a public school, and a shoe maker. The shoe maker and pump maker eventually expanded, and established 2 general stores there

The village also had a hockey team and a band. In 1870 the Linwood Horse Show began and was held annually until 1968. By 1906, the City of Guelph had built a railway line, leased to the CPR that went via Linwood to Goderich. A spur, which connected Listowel to Linwood was closed in 1939.

CrosshillFurther south, near Crosshill, Anglicans, Presbyterians and Methodists were among the majority of the settlers. The Anglicans and Presbyterians built churches in Crosshill while the Methodists occupied a building near Rushes Cemetery south of the village. All three denominations shared Rushes for burials.

William and David Hastings and Hugh Hutchison were among the first to settle in Crosshill.

The Township Hall in Crosshill now serves as Wellesley Township’s Council Chambers. It is the oldest municipal building still being used by a Waterloo Region municipal council.

James Boyd served the Presbyterians of Wellesley Township, ministering to both their spiritual and medical needs, having received medical training for missionary work with none other than classmate Dr. David Livingstone of Africa fame.

Western SectionIn the southern part of the western section of the township, many Presbyterian Scots moved up from the Hampstead and Amulree areas establishing a church and cemetery on the Third Line (now Deborah Glaister Line). Some Amish and Reformed Mennonite families settled among them, but until the descendants of these Scots moved off the land, the area was predominately Scottish. Later, some more Amish families and the families of Reformed Mennonites settled on the land in the area, having left Wilmot and North Easthope Townships .

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, some of the villages in the township declined. As farms were vacated, they were bought by Mennonites descended from the families originally from Pennsylvania who were being displaced by development within Kitchener, Waterloo and the Townships of Waterloo and Woolwich. Younger Mennonites unable to buy land in their own vicinity, also moved into the Township.

Today, the Township is predominately rural with remnants of the early settlement patterns in the form of villages churches, cemeteries, schools and family farms that remind us of the rich culture and heritage of the Township.